Social Media

Business to Business (B2B) service oriented businesses tend to have different marketing needs compared to (Business to Consumer) B2C and product oriented companies. As a result, their online marketing efforts take on a slightly different focus than the other type of businesses. So how would a B2B business approach online marketing online? Below lists a few different area on how a service oriented business would focus their online marketing efforts to get the most return on investment.

1) SEO – Search Engine Optimization

This is still a very effective method to get more exposure for and traffic to your website therefore generating more leads for your business. Ranking for specific keywords is powerful because you are able to specifically target your marketing based on the keywords people use to find your services. If they come to your website from the search engines using your targeted keywords, you can be certain they are interested in your services. Once they get to your website however, you still have to convert the visitors into leads and customers. There are many web conversion tactics that are outside the scope of this article that you can engage in which will increase your percentage of ‘converted’ visitors on your website.

2) Social Media

Social media is a very powerful way of connecting with your target market. For B2B businesses, it is very imperative to know which networks will work best for your because not all networks are the same. In my experience, I have found that while Facebook can be a great resource for generating leads, it depends upon the type of business you have and who your target audience is. For more BtoB service oriented businesses, LinkedIn is usually a better solution because […]

I get questions all the time related to getting more traffic to your website. However, the key isn’t getting more traffic, it’s getting the RIGHT kind of traffic. For businesses who depend on local traffic, online marketing is still effective if done correctly. A business owner must have a unified online strategy to be able to take advantage of all the different marketing venues from social media to strategic blogging and everything in between. So what are some things that you can do that will increase the traffic to your website as well as allow each marketing activity to build upon the other?

All of the methods I mention below will assume and take into account that you have already done appropriate keyword research and know how your target market uses the search engines to find you and your products/services.

Here are 5 things you can do that will increase the local traffic to your website:

1) Submit your website to the Google Places.

Google places is a feature of the Google platform that allows local businesses to place themselves on the maps that you see presented in the search engine results that show you where the local business are. This service is free and just requires you to enter the information. Make sure that when you do enter the information, all of your information is current and you are using the researched keywords in your places title (the one that makes the most sense to use in relating to your business) and fill out as much of the information as makes sense on the form. On a side note, put a picture on your website of your business and in the alt tag of the picture, put […]

Content is still king on the Internet and quality content is the emperor. With so much spam content out there, it isn’t too hard to come up with quality content. So what is quality content? It is content that your readers deem important, or valuable. Some types of popular content considered to be of quality amongst website visitors and blog readers, is content that can solve a problem, share a solution, or take the reader away from reality for a while.

So once you write that piece of content, (it could be something as simple as a 500 word article), you will want to get as much traction as you can, because that will draw in the visitors that you want because they will be more likely to purchase your products and services.

Here are the top 5 ways to repurpose your content:

1) Create a blog entry with your content
If you have a blog, placing the article on your blog will do a few things. 1) it will help you get more established in your field an more established as an expert.
2) It will help send more traffic to your website. Each new blog posts has a chance to be picked up by the search engines as well as other blogs. I have links back to specific blog posts on my blog all the time from other blogs sharing the content topic with their readers.

2) Create a Video Version of your content.
This can be done in a few different ways, probably the easiest way would be to make a mini power point of your article and then do a voice narration of the article as you go through the slides. Software such as Camtasia […]

Even though social media has grown in significance, and it has now become a necessary part of a businesses’ online strategy, it should not completely replace the traditional methods of online marketing. Social media has an important role in creating relationships, building brand and customer confidence in your business, product, or service. For most businesses, your website is still the main place where you would convert your prospects and network friends into customers.

You also want to keep in mind that you still want to spend your marketing dollars building up your own online asset (your website) instead of another’s online asset (your social networking sites). If you spend your efforts and energy promoting your Facebook page, Twitter account, or Youtube channel, in lieu of your own website, then you are putting your online presence at risk. If one of your social network sites closes down, or your account gets deleted, then you lose your main means of marketing your business online. Keeping the marketing focus on your own website allows you to maintain control of your online marketing.

That being said, how does the ever busy entrepreneur keep the appropriate level of focus on their own website while taking advantage of their social media networks to increase product or service awareness and create more clients and customers from this integration?

Well the first step is to be clear on what the focus is for each one. Use your social media accounts to generate awareness for your business and services and then use your website to convert them into sales and new clients.

Your social media traffic is different than the majority of your other traffic sources because it is what is considered warm traffic. These visitors already […]

Even with the rise of social media, email marketing is still an effective way to stay connected with prospects, generate sales and market affiliate products for additional revenue streams. However, with the rise of social media and other forms of communication, such as text messaging, the way email marketing is done needs to be updated. What should you be looking for in your email marketing service that will keep you updated with the latest developments on the Internet?

1) Consistent product improvement.
The email service provider should look very different today than it did 5 years ago. If it looks the same, or has most of the same features, then you should look for another email service. The email provider should keep their service up to date with the newest developments on the Internet and integrate their service to take advantage of these new online changes.

2) Close integration with your blog
Your blog and your email provider should be closely integrated. Your service provider should have the option to automatically email your blog postings out to your mailing list whenever you update your blog. A good service provider will allow you to pick how often you want to automatically email your blog postings out so you don’t overwhelm your list. This feature saves you time in keeping connected with your mailing list while you are posting great content to your blog. Clever applications of this feature can practically automate a significant portion of your online business strategy.

3) Ability to connect to your social networks.
Your email list should allow you to send broadcast emails out to your social network accounts as well when you send an email out to your mailing list. The networks that your provider should […]

Related terms:

In this episode of the show, we discuss how Web 2.0 sites can give your website and your web presence more exposure. There are a few strategies out there that I have become aware of and use myself on how to use web 2.0, or social media properties to improve my search engine ranking and get more traffic to my web site in general. In this show, we discuss the answers to the following questions:

Question 1: What is Web 2.0 – Social Sites?
Question 2: What are some examples of these social sites?
Question 3: Which ones will we be talking about for the purposes of this show
Question 4: What are the benefits of using Squidoo
Question 5: What are the benefits of using Hubpages
Question 6: What are the benefits of using WordPress.com
Question 7: How do you use these sites to enhance your online exposure
Question 8: Are there other social sites that can be used?
Question 9: It seems that in order to get these web 2.0 sites on your side you have to be well rounded. Is that assumption true?
Question 10: Does Psiphon consulting help internet business owners to be more well rounded?

In this show, we went over social media and social networking. The main focus was about some of the different social networking tips that can help integrate your website better with the different social networking sites that are out there. We discussed some things that you should focus on when you are using Facebook and some of the other major social networking sites. The questions that were covered include:

Question 1: What is Social Media Networking
Question 2: Why is it Popular?
Question 3: What should you put in your social networking profile
Question 4: What shouldn’t you put in your social networking profile
Question 5: Is Social Networking a good marketing medium?
Question 6: How to Use social networking sites to promote your blog and business

On this weeks show, we had Nima M. interviewing me and asking me the questions while I answered them. It was a good show and Nima had some great imput of his own as well. Listen in and get some great tips on Social Networking.

In this week’s episode that aired on March 31st, I interview Mike O’Neil where we discuss the how to use Linked In for business.

This show covered the power of using LinkedIn, some tools you can use to increase your network, and some of the differences between the pro and basic plans. There was also some discussion on the value of building a big network as well. To find out more about Mike O’Neil and what he is doing with LinkedIn, go to http://rocktheworldbook.com/the-book-tour.

B’s Bytes:
How do I get more traffic effectively and inexpensively to my web site?

Blogging and blog and forum commenting will give you a good head start on getting more traffic to your web site from both the search engines and from other web sites. To get more tips on how to get traffic effectively to your web site, sign up for your free 30 minute web assessment :

Some of the questions covered include:

Question 1: Why is it important for people to be engaged on LinkedIn?Question 2: What is the number one thing to do or to fix in order to gain more business, to see more success?Question 3: You are very connected. Is that important for everyone? And what is the value of building a network, connecting with people?Question 4: Social Media is the hot topic of the day. How did you get started in social media and what makes you The “Rockstar” and “Diva”?

Question 5: What is the difference between premium & regular membership accountsQuestion 6: Why do you travel so muchQuestion 7: When you are a consultant, you can benefit your client with a bigger network